MST-Department of Foods, Nutrition & Dietetics

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Browsing MST-Department of Foods, Nutrition & Dietetics by Author "Bundi, Dorothy Kareainto"

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    Chemotherapy Side Effects, Dietary Practices and Nutrition Status of Cancer Outpatients in Nyeri County, Kenya
    (Kenyatta University, 2025-07) Bundi, Dorothy Kareainto
    Global Cancer burden is high and research reveals that the burden is projected to rise by 47% by 2040 and lifestyle factors like sub-optima contributes to this burden. Notable gaps in cancer care include; drug induced side effects, co-morbidities and cancer, chemotherapy induced side effects, under-recognized malnutrition in cancer and under-utilization of the malnutrition screening tools. This study was therefore conducted to seek this association between chemotherapy side effects, dietary intake and the nutrition status of cancer outpatients at Nyeri County Referral Hospital. The study employed a cross-sectional study design and quantitative data was collected and analyzed using SPSS. The response rate was 93% and Kolmogorov-Smirnov normality test allowed parametric tests to be done, (df 172, statistic 0.083 95% CI, p=0.06). Chi square and Pearson product moment correlation co-efficient (r) were used in testing for the hypothesis. Sixty one percent were female while 39% were male. Sixty one percent had acquired primary school education and half of the respondents survive on a monthly income of between 0-10,000. Breast cancer was the most common cancer type in the population (39%), followed by esophageal and throat cancer at 14.5% and gastric cancer at 14%. Prostate cancer was the most prevalent among the male respondents at 11%. There was late cancer diagnosis with 40.7% of the total reported cases being made at stage III and 34.3% diagnosed at stage IV. The most prevalent comorbidity as guided by the Charlson comorbidity index was hypertension (54.7%) and 72.1% reported to have experienced loss of appetite while on chemotherapy. The association between the treatment side effects and skipping meals when symptoms are present was significant(P=0.04), rejecting the hypothesis, there is no significant association between chemotherapy side effects and the changes in the dietary patterns. More than half (51.7%) were at a high risk of developing malnutrition, followed by low risk (32.6%) with only 15.7% respondents being at a medium risk of malnutrition using MUST. The individual energy intake and the nutrition status were found to be statistically significant, (P<0.05) rejecting the null hypothesis that there is no significant association between the energy intake and the risk of being malnourished. Linear regression r (0.41) showed a significant (P<0.05) weak positive association between a person’s diet intake and the malnutrition risk. The analysis shows that only 16.7% of the overall risk of malnutrition can be explained by the dietary intake. This study found that chemotherapy side effects influence the dietary patterns of the cancer patients and that dietary intake influences the risk of malnutrition among cancer patients. This study recommends adoption and utilization of Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool to detect malnutrition early and improve the treatment outcomes and quality of life of the cancer outpatients.